Emphatically Emerson

Frank Crocitto, editor of the Thoreau tribute: New Suns Will Arise (Hyperion 2000) presents an unconventional introduction to the mind and heart of the Transcendentalist philosopher. Selections from Emerson’s journals have been carefully chosen and sensitively formatted for maximum impact and accessibility. Inspired by the bicentennial celebration of Emerson’s birthday, this compilation aims to introduce "America’s Founding Thinker" to a whole new generation. Emphatically Emerson reveals the mind of an American sage, whose revolutionary heart longs for Truth, Freedom and "the spirit of America."

Described as a zealous scholar of the great American Transcendentalists—Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman—Frank Crocitto has devoted his life to the pursuit of practical wisdom—through systems of self-development and service to others. Mr. Crocitto has been an actor, a milkman, an attendant in a mental hospital, a teacher of subjects as diverse as English composition, Algebra and flute making, and a barber. Through it all he has been an inspiring educator. He has taught in the public school system, in a Waldorf school, at Pace College, the State University of New York in New Paltz, and in the school he founded, Discovery Institute, which has branches in New Paltz, NY, San Diego and Santa Fe.

In addition to being the editor of Emphatically Emerson and the Thoreau tribute New Suns Will Arise (Hyperion 2000), Mr. Crocitto is the author of A Child’s Christmas in Brooklyn, Hooray For Love and Insight is Better Than Ice Cream, as well as numerous stage plays, including an adaptation of Stephen Crane’s The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky. In 1999, he recorded the spoken word album Rumi Is Alive with classical pianist Melanie Monsour. Mr. Crocitto is a regular columnist in Chronogram, a monthly arts magazine serving the Mid-Hudson Valley. He has also been a featured speaker at the Chopra Center for Well Being.

He is currently working on a new series of books focused on the Transcendentalists, the first of which is Emphatically Emerson. The next book in the series will be entitled Thoroughly Thoreau. In addition to writing, Mr. Crocitto travels around the country, speaking on a variety of topics ranging from ecstatic poetry and practical philosophy to the beauty of being an Italian-American from Brooklyn.